MUSIC NEWS: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
GEORGE STRAIT-COMEBACK
George Strait never said he was going to retire. Strait says when he announced he was releasing an album and planning to do some concerts next year in Las Vegas, people said, ``I thought you retired.'' Strait says he just wants to shake people like that. He says he always planned to do shows, just not a structured tour. Strait will release a new album called ``Cold Beer Conversation'' tomorrow. Strait says he had considered putting out an album of big-band standards, and that's still a possibility.
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CHRIS CORNELL-SOUNDGARDEN
If Chris Cornell could play the song in his bathroom, it made the record. That was his rule for his new album, ``Higher Truth.'' Cornell says he's written on acoustic guitar before, but this is his first body of work done entirely that way. Cornell says his solo career helps fuel his work with. Cornell says his solo work and Soundgarden couldn't be any more different and it's satisfying on a creative level. It also helps that Soundgarden has a rule about not working to a calendar. Cornell says they don't blow any deadlines because they don't have any and they even probably work a little faster that way. He says they've just started writing the next Soundgarden record.
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ARETHA FRANKLIN-POPE
Aretha Franklin plans to give Pope Francis a gift that's close to her heart after she sings for him this weekend.
Franklin says she will give the pope a boxed set of sermons by her father, Baptist preacher C-L Franklin. She says almost everything her father ever recorded is in that set. Franklin will sing ``Amazing Grace'' and another song for Pope Francis during the Festival of Families concert in Philadelphia on Saturday.
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MY MORNING JACKET-PATRICK HALLAHAN
My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan is opening a restaurant. Hallahan has partnered with chef Bobby Benjamin and lawyer Jon Salomon to launch a restaurant called Butchertown Grocery in Hallahan's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
It will be a casual dining restaurant with a cocktail lounge and live music. It's set to open in November.
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LADY ANTEBELLUM'S-HILLARY SCOTT-SCHOLARSHIP
Lady Antebellum singer Hillary Scott is sponsoring a scholarship to give women a hand. The Nashville Tennessean reports Lady A's manager, Daniel Miller, has announced a scholarship for women pursuing careers in the music industry at Middle Tennessee State University. Miller says Scott's father is a songwriter who had a track on LeAnn Rimes' debut album, and that made enough money to fund Scott's education at M-T-S-U. Miller says Scott wants to pay it forward to help other young women pursue their dreams.
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BEN FOLDS-CLASSICAL-NUMBER ONE
Ben Folds has the first number-one album of his career in a way he probably did not expect. Folds' new album, ``So There,'' has debuted at the top of Billboard's classical and classical crossover albums charts. It's also number 6 on the alternative album chart. ``So There'' includes a piano concerto that Folds recorded with the Nashville Symphony and what Folds calls ``chamber rock'' songs created with the Brooklyn chamber ensemble yMusic.
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TREVOR NOAH-RYAN ADAMS
Ryan Adams will be the first musical guest when Trevor Noah relaunches ``The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central. Adams will be the sole guest on next Thursday's episode. ``The Daily Show'' debuts on Monday, with comedian Kevin Hart as the first guest.
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(The Associated Press)
Here's a list of some new CD releases for the week ending Sept. 26:
Mindi Abair and The Boneshakers _ ``Live in Seattle''
Ryan Adams _ ``1989''
All Things New _ ``The Good News''
Herb Alpert _ ``Come Fly With Me''
Anderson Ponty Band _ ``Better Late Than Never''
Arcade Fire _ ``The Reflektor Tapes'' (Deluxe Edition) (digital release only)
Avant _ ``The VIII''
Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap _ ``The Silver Lining - The Songs of Jerome Kern''
Big Boi & Phantogram _ ``Big Grams''
Bill and Murray _ ``A New Kind of High''
Clint Black _ ``On Purpose''
Black Breath _ ``Slaves Beyond Death''
David Bowie _ ``Five Years 1969-1973'' (12-CD Box Set)
BoySetsFire _ ``BoySetsFire''
V V Brown _ ``Glitch''
Building 429 _ ``Unashamed''
Casey Veggies _ ``Live and Grow''
Caspian _ ``Dust & Disquiet''
Chvrches _ ``Every Open Eye''
Coasts _ ``Coasts''
The Collingsworth Family _ ``That Day is Coming''
Shawn Colvin _ ``Uncovered''
Amanda Cook _ ``Brave New World''
Darkstar _ ``Foam Island''
Dead Letter Circus _ ``Aesthesia''
The Dead Weather _ ``Dodge & Burn''
Deftones _ ``TBA''
Disclosure _ ``Caracal''
Dungen _ ``Allas Sak''
Darrell Evans _ ``Fearless''
Fetty Wap _ ``Fetty Wap''
Fever The Ghost _ ``Zirconium Meconium''
Theo Fleury _ ``I Am Who I Am''
Futurebirds _ ``Hotel Parties''
The Game _ ``The Documentary 2''
Girl Band _ ``Holding Hands With Jamie''
Gloryhammer _ ``Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards'' (Deluxe
Version)
Matthew Good _ ``Chaotic Neutral''
Grace & Tony _ ``Phantasmagoric''
Patty Griffin _ ``Servant of Love''
Emm Gryner _ ``21st Century Ballads''
Steve Hauschildt _ ``Where All is Fled''
Heaters _ ``Holy Water Pool''
Don Henley _ ``Cass County''
Julia Holter _ ``Have You in My Wilderness''
Huntress _ ``Static''
Introverted Dancefloor _ ``Introverted Dancefloor''
Kari Jobe _ ``Majestic (Revisited)''
Will Johnson _ ``Swan City Vampires''
JR JR. _ ``JR JR.'' (formerly known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.)
Kaskade _ ``Automatic''
R. Kelly _ ``Buffet''
The Lonely Wild _ ``Chasing White Light''
Los Lobos _ ``Gates of Gold''
Johnny Mathis _ ``The Singles'' (4-CD Anthology)
Bear McCreary _ ``Outlander: The Series, Vol. 2 (Original Television Soundtrack)''
John Mclaughlin _ ``Black Light''
Rita Moreno _ ``Una Vez Mas''
David Myles _ ``So Far''
New Order _ ``Music Complete''
Danielle Nicole _ ``Wolf Den''
Molly Nilsson _ ``Zenith''
No Devotion _ ``Permanence''
Parkway Drive _ ``Ire''
Peaches _ ``Rub''
Doe Paoro _ ``After''
Thomas Rhett _ ``Tangled Up''
Rockett Queen _ ``Goodnight California''
Robin Schulz _ ``Sugar''
John Scofield _ ``Past Present''
Sexwitch _ ``Sexwitch''
The Shoes _ ``Chemicals''
Silversun Pickups _ ``Better Nature''
Sneakers _ ``Sneakers''
The Spills _ ``Collecting Dust''
George Strait _ ``Cold Beer Conversation''
Donna Ulisse _ ``Hard Cry Moon''
The Underachievers _ ``Evermore - The Art of Duality''
U.S. Girls _ ``Half Free''
Various Artists _ ``A Walk in the Woods'' Soundtrack
Various _ ``WOW Hits 2016''
Kurt Vile _ ``b'lieve i'm going down''
Widespread Panic _ ``Street Dogs''
Julia Wolfe _ ``Anthracite Fields''
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die _ ``Harmlessness''
Wand _ ``1000 Days''
Widespread Panic _ ``Street Dogs''
Youth Lagoon _ ``Savage Hills Ballroom''
Andrea Zonn _ ``Rise''
(The Canadian Press)